All You Need Is The Internet To Build A Space Satellite

SEOUL (Reuters) - Years of rummaging through
back-alley electronics stores will pay off later this year for a
South Korean artist when he fulfills his dream of launching a
homemade, basement-built satellite into space.

"Making a satellite is no more difficult than making a
cellphone," said Song Hojun, 34, who said he built the $500
OpenSat to show people they could achieve their dreams.

"I believe that not just a satellite, but anything can be made
with the help of the Internet and social platforms. I chose a
satellite to show that symbolically."

There's a long history of do-it-yourself satellites being
launched by universities and scientific groups around the world,
as well as amateur radio clubs, but Song said his is the first
truly personal satellite designed and financed by an individual.

An engineering student at university, Song regularly incorporated
technology into his art pieces. In a work called Apple he used light bulbs that would "ripen" --
change color from green to red when people take photos of it with
flashes.

After working as an intern at a private satellite company, he
came up with the idea for his "Open Satellite Initiative," which
in turn led him to contact space professionals from Slovenia to
Paris.

"I'm just an individual, not someone working for big
universities, corporations or armies, so they open up to me and
easily give out information," said Song.

The bespectacled Song spent nearly six years combing through
academic papers, shopping online at sites that specialize in
components that can be used for space projects, and rummaging
through electronic stores hidden in the back alleys of Seoul.

He ran a small electronics business to support himself, but the
bulk of his funds came from his parents.

The cubical OpenSat weighs 1 kg (2.2 lbs) and measures 10 cubic
centimeters. It will transmit information about the working
status of its battery, the temperature and rotation speed of the
satellite's solar panel.

Radio operators will be able to communicate with the satellite.
If all goes well, it will repeat a message in Morse code using
its LED lights at a set time and location.

The components cost only 500,000 won ($440). But the cost for
launching it hit 120 million won after Song signed a contract
with NovaNano, a French technology company, which acted as a
broker to arrange the launch, including submitting paperwork and
finding a rocket.

The satellite will be launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in
Kazakhstan in December with another satellite.

Song has been invited to talk at international universities and
organizations including MIT Media Lab and CalArts, both in the
United States, and the Royal College of Art in London.

"The reason why technology or science is talked about is not
because it is an absolute truth, but rather because it generates
interesting stories," he said. ($1 = 1146.9500 Korean won)